I get what you're saying, but I think it's great for people to see that an old-school hard core programmer puts effort into improving documentation and names. I've worked with a lot of people who think programmers can and should be too good to invest time and thought into changes like that.

Also to see that he would be so tactful about asking if the changes are welcome, even though he is who he is and knows it. I like to think there are people in their twenties or teens or even younger browsing HN and subconsciously absorbing the fact that this is how a programming god behaves.